The
recently concluded Copenhagen Summit described by one section of the media as ‘The Last Chance to Save the Planet’ has
been in no uncertain terms a massive letdown and a flop show. Copenhagen was
supposed to be ‘HOPENHAGEN’ and
instead it will be described as ‘FLOPENHAGEN’.
In
this article, I examine the rift between the developed world and the BASIC
countries which came to a head in Copenhagen. I also look at Copenhagen from a
strict Indian perspective and how the Indian government has actually done a good job
at Copenhagen.
Copenhagen
looks like the first straw in a long line of disagreements whilst the world
debates the climate change problem. Copenhagen reminds me of the Doha round of
the WTO talks which I might add is yet to conclude.
India’s
aviation sector has become such a pathetic joke that frankly speaking it’s not
even funny anymore. It’s just simply pitiful and reaching a knife edge of impatience.
Earlier this month the pilots of Jet Airwayswent
on strike leaving thousands stranded. During that time India’s Civil
Aviation Minister Mr.Praful Patel took
the moral high ground and spoke something to the effect which suggested that
private Airlines mismanage their employee grievances worse when compared to the
government run Air India.
As
of Now the 5 day saga of the striking executive pilots of Air India is over. A
liberal approach always seems the right thing when the fire is in someone else’s
home but when your own house is burning down, what will you do Mr. Patel?
Never ever in his wildest dreams
would Dr.Manmohan Singh have thought about this. The man who become a
politician by accident and a Prime Minister by reluctance is now only the
second man since Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru in the history of India to serve as Prime
Minister for two consecutive terms. While his election victory was modest at
his Congress Party’s headquarters, the scene at the Bombay Stock Exchange has
been totally different in the last two days. The party has begun leaving many
to think if we are indeed in a recession. A two thousand point rally on the Sensex
within sixty seconds has established 18th May, 2009 as the day on
which the world saw the largest intra day rise on any index anywhere in the
world.
The
world’s biggest democratic election is over. In 24 hours India will get down to
forming its next government. A month long election spread over five
phases covering every nook and cranny in the country involving a voter
demographic of over Seven Hundred Million
People, hundreds of electoral officers and thousands of security personnel
is by no means a small affair. From an economic and financial point of view the
new government will be tested right from day one. Will Manmohan Singh remain the
king, will Lal Krishna Advani finally fulfill his lifelong ambition of
becoming the country’s Prime Minister in his 82nd year of existence
or will some new leader take charge as we last saw in 1996?
It’s a case of economic policy
ruling over political sops. The
Prime Minister has stated that petrol, diesel and other fuel prices will not be
reduced despite the fall in global crude prices. This bit of news has been
made much against the wishes of the Oil Ministry which had recommended a cut in
petrol prices. The ministry was sure that a fuel price cut would be enforced
till someone else changed that decision which has led the PM to say what he has
said.
Lucknow, India: Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has called for a crash programme on increasing India's generation capacity. There is no doubt that poor pace of reforms in the power sector will trip overall economic growth and there is an urgent requirement to check electricity theft that is bleeding the system.
Never ever in his wildest dreams
would Dr.Manmohan Singh have thought about this. The man who become a
politician by accident and a Prime Minister by reluctance is now only the
second man since Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru in the history of India to serve as Prime
Minister for two consecutive terms. While his election victory was modest at
his Congress Party’s headquarters, the scene at the Bombay Stock Exchange has
been totally different in the last two days. The party has begun leaving many
to think if we are indeed in a recession. A two thousand point rally on the Sensex
within sixty seconds has established 18th May, 2009 as the day on
which the world saw the largest intra day rise on any index anywhere in the
world. 
The
world’s biggest democratic election is over. In 24 hours India will get down to
forming its next government. A month long election spread over five
phases covering every nook and cranny in the country involving a voter
demographic of over Seven Hundred Million
People, hundreds of electoral officers and thousands of security personnel
is by no means a small affair. From an economic and financial point of view the
new government will be tested right from day one. Will Manmohan Singh remain the
king, will Lal Krishna Advani finally fulfill his lifelong ambition of
becoming the country’s Prime Minister in his 82nd year of existence
or will some new leader take charge as we last saw in 1996? 
It’s a case of economic policy
ruling over political sops. 
